You are beautiful
by El loopy
Summary: Mr Gold spots a Beauty sitting across from him on the Subway and can't get her out of his head. AU. Oneshot. Rumplestiltskin x Belle.


**A/N Inspired by the song 'You're beautiful' by James Blunt.**

* * *

_You are beautiful_

Gold was late leaving work at the antiques shop. It was a deliberate ploy to try and avoid the crush of bodies that inevitably descended onto the streets and public transport every evening. Most days it worked; by leaving the shop open a little longer he could avoid those social interactions that he loathed. Not on this week though. Not on the countdown to Christmas.

The sky was a bleak iron grey, the air cold and uninviting, and people rushed around him with their heads down and coats wrapped tightly around them, clutching the folds shut. Old snow lay muddy brown slush piles in corners or gutters and he placed his cane down carefully to avoid slipping. Every shop that he passed had blaring, over loud Christmas songs; all mixing together to make an incomprehensible garble of noise. Late night Christmas shoppers pushed past each other, jostling to grab the flashiest gifts – anything to give to that person they'd forgotten. The tacky artificial lights hurt his eyes and the cold made his leg ache.

With a sigh of relief he slipped into the underground. It wasn't as crowded as outside, rush hour being over, but there were still a number of people shuffling through the corridors. Slipping gracefully through the rapidly closing doors, Gold grabbed the pole above his head, and subconsciously rubbed at his leg.

That was when he saw her.

She was sitting so innocently across from him; long dark hair falling enchantingly around her face, a few stray strands falling into her eyes. A book was open in her lap and she smiling a sweet smile, like her mind was engaged with some private amusing thought. Her mind was somewhere far away and hadn't realised he was watching her yet but before long the intensity of his gaze drew her eyes and they locked. Her eyes were blue and warm like a summer sky. So rarely did his eyes meet another's in a mutual exchange that this shook him. He was used to seeing only fear and revulsion in eyes, especially when collecting his debts or making a deal. There was no fear in hers. She looked at him as someone worth looking at and he felt something pass through the air in the space between them. Her face transformed, reflected excitement, and the smile on her face turned from pensive to something else, something that made his stomach turn over. Then the spell was broken. An arm twined itself possessively around her waist and she looked up into the face of someone else, the smile turning back to the absent one.

Gold looked away; unable to keep his gaze on her, his insides hurting, like he'd swallowed handfuls of broken glass and it was shredding him to pieces. Not since Milah had he felt such longing coupled with such utter despair, and after her betrayal he had never thought he could feel that way again. The Beauty opposite had managed it with only a look and it seemed inconceivable that she was about to walk out of his life as quickly as she had entered it. He wished he had the courage to go over and speak to her but at heart he knew he was the coward his ex-wife had always accused him of being. Besides, she was clearly with the handsome all-muscle-and-no-brain who had his arm around her waist and Gold quickly managed to convince himself that he had imagined the look that had passed between them. Her boyfriend, after all, couldn't have been much more his opposite if he tried. Gold toyed with the idea that instead he could wish that her companion turn into something small and insignificant that he could crush; maybe an insect...or a flower that he could then present to the Beauty. The idea amused him but he was pretty sure that sort of wish was not granted. He had never had much of an opinion for that kind of wishy washy, 'fairy tales come true' sort of magic anyway.

The Beauty got off at the next stop, her hand in that of her companion's. Gold watched her leave with a heavy heart, slowly trying to pry away the threads that she had somehow weaved around him without him being aware of it. He reasoned that there was no point holding onto someone who clearly hadn't noticed his existence, and he had just managed to convince himself of this when, to his astonishment, she turned back. Her head tilted and she looked directly at him again, before she was pulled away, devoured by the crowd. As the train rumbled off he slowly reached up a hand to gently touch his chest where his heart fluttered. No one had ever looked back for him before.

* * *

That night he had a dream. She came to him in his sleep with a smile light as sunshine and wearing a white gown, her features softened by its glow.

"What are you doing here, dearie?" he asked her quietly.

She didn't answer just smiled in her beautiful way and took his hand. The glow faded and her dress transformed to an elaborate one of gold that trailed on the floor behind her. She pointed at his own outfit and he found himself wearing a suit, more elaborate than his usual fare, of a deep midnight blue. She placed a hand on his arm and leaned in close to his face. "The bond between us; it's true love," she whispered in his ear and then he awoke.

* * *

He tried to ignore her, tried to push her away but his mind was full of her. Her sweetness, her innocence, her light. True love was a concept he had always dismissed as utter nonsense, part of that fairy tale magic he did not believe in, Christmas miracles fell under that same category; yet he found himself looking out for her on the street on the way to work. Any woman with dark hair underwent scrutiny from him. Every time the bell of his shop rang his head shot up with expectation as quickly as his eyes narrowed in disappointment. Anyone he did business with that day got the poisonous edge of his tongue and the sharp end of the deal.

Gold found himself leaving work at exactly the same time as the day before, so that he could catch exactly the same train. The odds of her being there again were so minimal they were non-existent, which is why he tried to convince himself that he was not looking for her. He boarded the train on the same carriage as before and took up position right where he had the very first time he saw her. He stood in quiet misery and stared at the empty place where she had rested. It was like he could see the image of her still sitting there with the smile on her face. Then a stranger sat down and the vision dissipated into shreds, like insubstantial mist.

Feeling ridiculous and annoyed at himself Gold turned away…and there she was, watching him, with amusement in her eyes and a small smile hovering on her lips. Tall, dark and brutish wasn't there this time and yet he still hesitated, still couldn't quite make himself walk over to her. Why would such a Beauty want to speak with such a Beast? He was foolish to have come and foolish to have hoped and yet, to his astonishment again, she came over to him.

"Hello," she greeted almost shyly. Her voice was just the way he'd dreamed it and her eyes were alight with curiosity. "Have we met before?"

"I could never have forgotten you, dearie," he replied with a lilt and she blushed lightly. He could feel his head being held higher, his back straightening. Their eyes could not seem to disconnect.

"Do you...erm," she dipped her head and lifted it again with a small anxious frown, "do you want to get a coffee?"

Now he could not help the small smile beginning to tug at the corners of his own mouth.

"I'll tell you what," he said in his deal-maker's voice, "I know this great little tea shop...my treat."

He flourished a hand and offered it to her, with a small bow, and with a smile brighter and warmer than all the others he had yet seen she took it.

"I would love to."

This time when she got off the train he was next to her and they were devoured by the crowds together. There was no need to look back.


End file.
